Death of Oak Park toddler probed

October 25, 2009

Police and state child-welfare authorities were investigating the death this weekend of an 18-month-old Oak Park boy in the home of a woman arrested two weeks ago on an aggravated assault charge against a child.

Joshua Clayton, 18 months, of the 700 block of South Scoville Avenue in the the west suburb, was found unresponsive Saturday morning, authorities said. An autopsy today by the Cook County medical examiner's office was inconclusive, pending further studies, but the Department of Children and Family Services was investigating the death.

Four other children at the home have been staying with relatives since DCFS began an investigation on Oct. 6 into a prior incident at the home, said department spokesman Jimmie Whitelow.

Emergency crews were called to Joshua's home Saturday morning about 9:15 a.m. by his mother, who found him unresponsive and not breathing, said Oak Park Police Watch Commander Ladon Reynolds. The boy was declared dead and his body taken to the Cook County medical examiner's office, Reynolds said.

Police are conducting a death investigation in the case, and were awaiting futher word from the medical examiner's office, Reynolds said.

Police reports on the department's Web site indicate an adult female was arrested on Oct. 5 on an aggravated assault charge in the block where Joshua lived, but Reynolds said today he had no information about the prior arrest there.

And the Web site of the Wednesday Journal, an Oak Park newspaper, reported that a 29-year-old woman who lived at Joshua's address was arrested on charges of aggravated assault and battery to a police officer the night of Oct. 5 after standing over an Oak Park boy with a knife and threatening to kill him, then elbowing a police officer who responded to the incident.

The news and police reports do indicate the age of the boy who was the victim in the Oct. 5 incident.

Whitelow said he could not answer why the four other children left Joshua's home, but Joshua remained there.